ing please call the role. >> director bridget. >> brinkman? >> present. >> director heinicke is anticipated. director lee? >> present. >> director nolan? present. rib key present. mr. chairman, directors, you have a quorum. announcement of produce sound producing devices during the meeting please be advised the ringing of cell phones, pagers and other similar sound producing electronic devices are prohibited at the meeting. any person responsible for one going off in the meeting may be asked to leave the room. and please know that cell phones that are put on the vibrate position do cause microphone interference so the board respectfully request they be placed in the off tion position. full approval of the minutes of november 20, 2012 regular meeting. >> motion. >> second. >> all in favor say aye? >> aye. >> so ordered. >> item 5, communications. >> okay. ms. boomer, on this one,

members of the board, because there are two issues today there are not going to be a whole lot of people. what i'd like to do is to begin with asking a question of the people in the audience here today, how many people want to speak on the free muni for youth? issue? if you want to speak, please raise your hand. >> free muni for youth. >> how many here to speak on behalf of the [inaudible]? >> how many people want to speak on the free muni for youth proposal? >> so, we've got three people. how many want to speak on behalf of -- how about the central subway issue? okay. we have very few members, what i'd like to do is do the free muni issue right away. that's 10.3 on our agenda. we don't need a staff report. remind that you this board -- the policy we have, we are doing this because the money has been found through the mta and through supervisor campos' leadership. so, with that let me ask supervisor campos to come and join us, please. >> all right.

let me read it into the record. item 10.3, authorizing the director to accept and expend $6.7 million in fy 2013 transit sustainability project funding from the mtc, to be used for the free muni for low income youth program and the light rail vehicle rehabilitation project from the mtc to be used for the free muni for low-income youth program and the light rail vehicle rehabilitation project. >> supervisor, good afternoon. welcome. >> good afternoon, mr. president. , commissioners. thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to address you today. and if i may, i'd like to begin by asking all of the community members who are here to speak in support, to be here in support of free muni for low-income youth to please stand * so that you can see them. >> good work. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. you can sit. thank you. as you can see, there are many supporters here and the overflow room as well. and i also want to acknowledge the many youth and parents and community members who have been working on this not for a year, but two years, who could not be here today.

and i want to begin by also thanking this board of directors for what is clearly going to be a very historic vote here in the city and county of san francisco. not only does it address the immediate needs of getting our youth to school and other activities, but it also makes a very strong statement that our local transit agency and the city and county of san francisco value our young people, value our families, and that this agency wants to build a new generation of public transit riders. it is because of these riders that ultimately the system will be sustained. and i want to also highlight the tremendous leadership not only on this issue, but on zombie the head of transportation city and county of san francisco, ed rifkin who has been instrumental, not only in this effort, but in so many efforts to improve public transit here in the city and county. our path to this historic day has been a long one as you

know. over the past three years we have heard from low-income and middle income families across san francisco. but the drive ambition of our youth and parents and community is ultimately what got us to this point. and i am especially grateful to six organizations that have helped raise the funding power. chinatown community center, the san francisco youth commission, urban habitat, the student advisory council, and jamestown community center. i also want to thank so many folks throughout the city who have, you know, taken the time to pitch this, this program. and just to close, my colleagues on the board of supervisors, supervisors avalos, chu, kim, mar, our mayor has been supportive of this. it is a very historic time and i want to thank you for the opportunity. and if i may, i know that we have one member of this coalition who is here to speak. and, so, i will -- if it's okay with you, i will turn it over

to her. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor. (applause) >> good afternoon. [speaking through interpreter] -- spanish interpreter] good afternoon, my name is elena martinez from power. i know many families that will benefit from this program. and thank you for investing in the future of our children. thank you to the director board. on behalf of the community and all families and children, we know that this wouldn't be

possible without our movement and working together. thank you very much. (applause) >> thank you. members, we have a motion on 10.3. >> sorry, we need to see if there is any -- >> is there any other on this item alone? seeing none on this item, is there a motion on 10.3? >> so moved. >> second. >> second. >> any further discussion? absolutely, director heinicke. >> thank you. i appreciate the speed with which this is moving and i appreciate supervisor campos' comments. he and i don't always agree on items, but we talk it out and i find him to be a genuine and thoughtful person and i appreciate the passion he's shown on this. director reiskin, i have two questions on. this supervisor campos, if you want to address any of this, we're addressing it on the consent calendar. it certainly wasn't an item of unanimous consent at the board of supervisors, but surely you did get the majority vote there. director rifkin, when we first

proposed this, we made very clear, i think as a group to the community, that if they found new funding for this, we were not opposed to this on policy ground. that obviously the idea of providing reduced or even free fares for the truly under privileged children in our community is a noble idea and one that i think we all agree is worthy of pursuing from a policy standpoint. but when we reached that sort of agreement, one of the points was that it be new money. and i think we've heard from some members of the board of supervisors and some members of the community the concern that this money is not really new money earmarked for this. it's discretionary money that we could have spent on something else. and, so, maybe i just say, what is your reaction to that particular, and you know, how do you weigh the benefits of spending this discretionary money on service upgrades or something like that as opposed to this project? >> what i would say is i think

that's all correct and those are valid, legitimate points. when we had the discussion here back in the spring, and when the mta board approved this, it was contingent on funding from the mtc. so, actually in terms of the letter of the resolution that was adopted, what we're doing here is fully consistent. what is different is that the discussion that we had surrounding that approval was the understanding that the identified source at that time from the mtc were funds that wouldn't otherwise be coming to the mta and that were otherwise available to us. we did -- i will remind you that that detail, notwithstanding the only division on this board, was whether to support a program of free for low-income youth versus free for all youth. but ultimately we had unanimous support from this board for the pilot program we proposed which would have been the 22-month

pilot with that mtc money. so, fast forward, that funding source didn't come through, but i think -- but then this program was developed by the mtc and i would imagine supervisor campos will comment on his role in that and how this came together. but this was a specific grant program called the transit performance initiative that had as an explicit goal increased ridership and had as an explicit eligible program a low-income youth fare program and that's not coincidental. and that's as a request. >> sure. >> so, given that the guidelines of this grant program and weighing against the needs that we have, which i think i communicated to the board in a letter some of those needs on the maintenance side were, it seemed like we had a good opportunity to address both needs through this grant

program. the lion's share of the grant funds will go towards lrv rehab, light rare vehicle rehab program -- light rail -- which is a critical need that we have. you the smaller portion of the funds will enable us to fund smaller, now a 16-month free muni for youth for low-income youth pilot that i believe is, you know, very consistent with the spirit of the unanimous support of the board for the program. * and it's a balancing of different needs. we have needs of the system. we have needs of the community. these grant dollars i think are well positioned to enable us to serve both. >> right. and just to focus the question, and please address this, as i said at the very outset of this discussion, i think it's important we as a board keep our promises and that's why i was very sort of reticent to make too many promises and said so in the first instance. i didn't want to promise a

program we couldn't then fund. so, here my question is specifically -- and i realize this doesn't end the debate. but do you feel that our original resolution sort of binds us to do this today, given the funding we have from the mtc? or are we really evaluating this anew to see whether this is new money and whether this is a good use of it balanced in the program? >> i don't believe the resolution binds you because this board can adopt a different resolution that does something different. this use of funds is fully consistent with the words of that resolution. and i believe is consistent with the spirit, even though the funding source is slightly different. what you're approving here today is not the youth pilot program per se. it's really our expenditure program for this particular grant, that the mtc is requiring have the agency board approval for regardless of how we were going to use these

funds. >> so, are we going to approve how we use these funds at a later point? >> no, this is where you're approving how to use these funds. and it's the specific allocation of the majority for the light rail vehicle rehab and the smaller portion for the youth paths. we will bring next year a similar accept and spend resolution for your consideration that will have a similar split of funding for maintenance and for the balance of the youth fare program. >> and my other question will be how sure are we of this cost figure? because, you know, the month, it's been condensed in time and we don't rile have an idea of how many people will sign up for this. so, i'll put that out there, but i certainly want to give supervisor campos a chance to speak to this. >> thank you, commissioner. you know, one of the things that it's true about the small minority that have opposed this project is that they are very resourceful and along the way finding different reasons to vote it no. i will give them that. but let me be very clear here.

the resolution that this board passed was a resolution that called upon the program going forward if there is funding found at the mtc. it didn't specifically say where the source of funding -- what the source of funding would be. and what happened at the mtc is that the original request failed because there were some concerns that were raised in terms of sort of the structure of that request. and it was actually one of the people who originally voted against the request who then turned around and asked the mtc staff to come up with a different source of funding so that this program could go forward. and it was actually a supervisor from marin who did that. and, so, the mtc crafted the funding that is before you in such a way to allow san francisco pursuant to this resolution that you pass to fund this program. and that's the reason why the funding allocation has been structured the way it is.

and, in fact, san francisco is getting additional money that would otherwise get for that very purpose. the interesting thing -- i was having this conversation with supervisor cohen yesterday -- is that the unfortunate thing is that what we have seen is an effort to pit, you know, doing something to provide access to low-income youth against the very important goal of actually funding maintenance for the mta. the two are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, the program that's before you, the funding that's before you recognizes that to increase access to transportation, you have to do both. and as director rifkin said, this funding proposal allows you to not only fund this pilot program, which is why -- one of the reasons that the mtc gave you this funding, but also allows you to meet the maintenance need that all of us should be addressed. you know, you don't have to

choose between helping low-income youth and actually making the system work. i do believe that that is a false choice, and i think that we can walk and chiu gum at the same time. i think that it is in the interest of these youth that we have a system that works. but a system that works will not be meeting the needs of low-income families if families cannot afford to use that system. and, so, that's why we're here. i believe that this has been fully vetted by the mtc with a vote, by the way, was unanimous and everyone expected that san francisco would turn around and do exactly what you're about to do today, which is to fund this program with this money. >> a very eloquent explanation, and i appreciate it. i continue to have my concerns about the trade-offs, which i don't think are necessarily a false choice, but i will say i am moved by the fact that i think we committed to this program if we got mtc funding. and i think it would be a bit

of a refrenchment if we backed away from that. as we look at it again, i will look at the trade-off between rehabilitation which is definitely needed, but i hear supervisor campos on the notion that there was a resolution on this, and that he went out and found the funding and that's his position. >> thank you. we do a motion and second. other member support? >> second question about the cost. it's sort of a floating idea. this is our best guess. is that the -- >> we have the same level of certainty about the cost as we did when we brought this in the spring. and time will tell. >> i didn't ask the question artfully, i'm sorry. if the cost turns out to be less, obviously the money could be redirected to rehabilitation. the bulk of it turns out to be more? >> the bulk of the budget is anticipated is offsetting the anticipated revenue loss. so, it's really on the revenue side of the ledger. if we lose less revenue than we anticipated, then we will have the funds available for other

purposes. if we lose more revenue than anticipated, then we would have to look for ways to offset. right now, our revenue projections for the fiscal year are slightly above. i think a million dollars over on $8 28 million operating budget. so, we will put that into the pot as we watch revenues and expenditures over the course of the year and we'll adjust as need be. >> okay, thank you. the motion and second on the motion. anybody else? i'd like to congratulate everybody here for an outstanding -- i support this as i did earlier. i would congratulate the organizations and the individuals and i want to say that we sit up here week after week. we hear a lot of stories. a lot of stories you told were very compelling about how vital muni is to people in this city, how absolutely vital it is. you made a good case. in my opinion. so, if no one else has anything. >> one more quick. i'm sorry. just very quickly, i do want to also extend my gratitude to everyone in the community.

you know, it's been a long hard road, at least two years. and the only reason why you're here today and we're here ready to support this is because you all were united. there is a saying that is frequently said at rallies, and it's something like, [in spanish]. in other words, the people united will never be defeated. i think that it's clear demonstration of unity that has happened that this body and also at ntc and here that over the long two years that you guys have been struggling, that your unity and your persistence got you to where you are. so, thank you for your tenacity. i do want to express some interest in making sure that we move this thing along as fast as possible and get it implemented as quickly as possible. two years has been a long time coming and so if we can expedite this as quickly as possible to get it implemented so these youth can take advantage of this benefit quickly would be my best interest. >> we have a motion and second. all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> opposed say no.

ayes have it, so ordered. congratulations, supervisor and members. [cheering and applauding] >> come back any time. [laughter] >> okay, ladies and gentlemen. pardon me? we are going back to the regular agenda now. we are going back to -- okay, we are going back to the regular agenda now. we invited anyone who wanted to speak on this to speak. only two people did. okay. so, as the room clears -- pardon me? i did ask, yes. okay. so, what he we propose to do at this point, we know there are a large none of people here to speak on the central subway

issue. what we will do -- after we hear from the citizens advisory council is here and the business report, we'll go immediately to the central subway issue. before that, however, i'd like to ask my colleagues to join me in adjourning our meeting in memory today of supervisor mike nevan of san mateo county. he was an outstanding -- outstanding person. he was on the caltrain joint powers board, the transbay joint powers board. he was on the mtc, all kinds of things. he was a leader in san mateo county and a man of great compassion and a very dear friend of mine. he will be very buried friday this week. he w we will adjourn in ms. memory and send it to his widow cathy. >> mr. chairman, before we move on from communications, item 10.20 has been removed from the consent calendar at the request of staff. also please be advised that the closed session scheduled for today's meeting has been canceled.

>> thank you. with that, baysness report. >> item 6, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. >> unfinished business? >> actually i do have something. i spoke on the phone to -- i can't call him captain any more because he's retired from the sfpd. he talked to me about the toy drive that the sfpd and the sf fire department do together. i know it's getting a little close to the time they do toy distribution on christmas day and he was wondering if there was a point person at the mta. that he could talk to about maybe doing some kind of facilitation * . the toys will be gathered at lefty o'doole. it is short notice, but it would be a fun thing for mta to join with him. he was specifically thinking that maybe the 38 geary drivers could be given some toys on christmas day they could pass out to children they see on the buses that day. again, don't know if it's possible, but i just thought it might be something really nice for us to work with the sfpd and sf fire department on.

>> director bridges actually beat you to the punch on this. she made the same call and request to me on friday. i've since then been in touch with the organizer of the event. >> director. [speaker not understood]. thank you. >> next item. thank you. >> all right. moving on to the director's report. >> director, good afternoon. >> good afternoon, chairperson nolan, members of the board, members of the public and staff. i'm going to start as we do the first meeting of each month recognizing a few of our outstanding employees. and first i'd like to ask mr. vince harris who leads our capital projects division to come forward with chu win chee. she is one of our talented capital engineers. she's been with the agency over 15 years. always goes beyond the call of duty to solve any project

problems, address project concerns and work effectively with the project team. department clients, consult apartments and the public. she's been a project engineer for the [speaker not understood] transportation radio project which is a very complicated design/build project, very significant, $100 million project that we're currently undertaking to modernize our whole communications system throughout muni. she's involved in developing the rfp, negotiating with the contract, reviewing design and is now working with us and the transit staff and others to implement. previously she was involved with the cable street, cable car infrastructure, the california street cable car infrastructure improvement project. a number of other projects, particularly in the electrical systems part of the system which you'll hear a little bit more today. but it's a special expertise

that she brings to the agency and a special dedication of effort. so, we're pleased to honor her here and we'll ask ms. harris if he wants to say a few words. >> mr. chairman, and members, director rifkin, thank you for the opportunity to present this award to tee win. tee win, on behalf of all the division, we're extremely proud of what you do every day. thank you so very much for your work and congratulations on this award today. it reads, in recognition and appreciation of your dedication to improving the quality of life of the employees of the municipal transportation agency and the residents of san francisco by the san francisco municipal transportation agency. dated today, december 4, 2012, signed by the chairman tom nolan and our director of transportation ed [inaudible]. congratulations. >> thank you. (applause) >> congratulations on behalf of the board. thank you so much for your out $125ctionving work and for all the people in the city. love to hear a few words from you. >> well, i want to thank the

director, mr. rifkin, for the recommendation. and i want to thank the board for this award. i am truly honored and i want to thank mr. harris for the nomination. so, thank you very much. >> thank you. (applause) >> congratulations. and next, moving on to the transit division, we have two teams of employees that we're going to recognize from our maintenance of way section. these are the folks who maintain the entire system aside from the vehicles, everything that the vehicles run and rely on, the buildings, the tracks, all of that. i want to ask mr. haley to come up with mr. young lalague. young is a track maintenance supervisor and terry manages the entire maintenance of way division and is here on behalf of the signal crew. both of these gentlemen have been with the agency for 13

years. and we're really recognizing them for two specific projects, one of which director heinicke is well familiar with, the eureka curve track replacement project which was replacing the track that you heard updates on often at the director's request over the course of the project. very significant in terms of the basic service of the muni metro service through the tunnels and that the track had gotten worn to the point where we couldn't run. it was not safe for us to run the trains at full speed. and the diminished speed diminished the level of service we were able to provide. after the rest of us went to sleep every night over the course of many, many months, young and his crews went in and worked very efficiently, very cost-effectively to systematically replace those rails to put that part of the

system into a good state of repair to raise the speeds. it's painful when you're on those trains coming -- leaving forest hills and you suffer through that agonizing slow down. so, very grateful for young and his crew for that project. and we've also -- the signal crews which terry here is to represent, led the upgrade of the automatic train control system, the signal loop. a loop of wires that run through the subway that basically provide for the communication of the automated train control system. when our trains are in the subway, they operate on an automatic mode that allows them to move much more quickly and efficiently than they would if they were operating in manual. and when this cable is not functioning, the automatic system goes down. everybody switches into manual mode and the entire service, not just the eureka curve, the entire service degrades.

so, it is a very significant project, fairly technical in terms of making sure there was not interference with the communication systems, and that the crews that worked on this also working after hours did a spectacular job. so, i want to thank you both for the service that you put in to make the train system work better and i'll ask mr. haley if he wants to add a few words. >> director heinicke, [speaker not understood]. i heard you might. [laughter] >> we'll give it to you. >> good afternoon. actually, it's good morning to me because i work graveyard shift. to the chairman and to the board, thank you very much. i'm just up here representing the track maintenance crew which is a crew of 50. and i'm going to have to break this up in pieces and hand it to them. because as a team it's the only way we can function. one of the biggest significant things of this project we were able to do it on revenue hours

which is no service disruption to the public. and those are the folks, the people at the city and county of san francisco that pay our wageses so we can go home and support our families. so, we are at a track maintenance department true civil servants of the city of san francisco. we thank you, board members for doing your job. if you weren't doing your job, we wouldn't have a job. so, thank you very much. (applause) >> i'd also like to thank the board and mr. rifkin and mr. haley for giving me the opportunity to lead young and also the maintenance crew. again, to reiterate what young said, it's the guys, the boots on the ground that really carry this through, that when everyone else is sleeping, they're the ones